Medfield

Intel were keen to push their Medfield platform at MWC 2012, announcing various partners, and even a product that would make it to retail, the Orange Santa Clara. The Atom Z2460 single-core processor is clocked at 1.6Ghz, with the phone being able to perform such feats as taking ten photos in under a second, as long as 1080p playback and Intel Wireless Display. But how does the performance really stack up against other phones with only a single core?

Intel's Atom Z2460 Medfield processor for mobile devices will struggle to compete with ARM-based chipsets such as the Snapdragon S4, Qualcomm's product chief insists, with the new x86 being more the product of desperation than inspiration. "Intel is very smart and very dedicated" Sy Choudury, director of product management at Qualcomm told us in an interview at Mobile World Congress today, "they can't afford not to have a [mobile] product line." However, Choudury thinks Intel has underplayed the challenge it faces by contrasting Medfield with existing, mainstream ARM chips like Qualcomm's own Scorpion. "They're getting better, but so are we."

Intel has been talking up its Atom Z2460 Medfield processor at MWC 2012, and the Orange "Santa Clara" is the latest carrier win and a confirmed attack on the European market. Running Android 2.3 Gingerbread on the 1.6 GHz x86 processor, with a 4-inch WVGA display and 8-megapixel camera, the Santa Clara tries to convince us that ARM isn't the only company with skills in the cellphone market.

This week the Intel Corporation have named two launch partners for their Medfield mobile device chip, one of them being Motorola - this fact previously only a rumor. They've also reconfirmed that the Lenovo device we saw back at CES 2012, Racer A, will be part of their initial launch. Intel has been quite vocal on its intent to take on the already saturated market which includes such titans as Qualcomm, NVIDIA, and Apple, with strong design roots in Austin, Texas.

The folks at Motorola have had their next Android device leaked, it appearing to have Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich onboard and tipped to be running an Intel-Powered Medfield processor powering it. This device has many hardware details appearing like the DROID RAZR and the DROID 4 that've been released just recently, a power button, volume up/down, and physical camera button all on the right side. This device would be the second device revealed to have the Medfield chip aboard, the first shown by Lenovo at CES 2012.

Late in the week on the fourth full day of CES 2012, we got the opportunity to sit down with Intel's Mark Miller to speak about Medfield, Clover Trail, and the future of mobile computing in the Intel environment. What Intel intends on bringing to the market is not just powerful devices such as tablets, but these devices with elements of differentiation in the silicon itself rather than in the device's specifications. With both Medfield and Clover Trail in the works for Android and Windows 8, Intel is aiming to take on the mobile world with a vengeance.

Intel has already struck a deal with Lenovo and Motorola for its smartphone chips, focusing the first batch on Android devices. Although Apple is unlikely to pick up Intel in lieu of its own proprietary A series processors, Intel isn't ruling out iOS for its Medfield chips and says it's been "talking to everybody." Intel also considers Windows Phones, but says its a conscious decision at the moment to focus on Android.

Intel has detailed its push to get x86 processors inside next-gen smartphones, confirming deals with both Lenovo and Motorola Mobility to use its Atom Z2460 chip. Motorola will "deliver smartphones and tablets based on Intel's Atom processor to consumers and businesses," according to CEO Sanjay Jha, while Intel has already demonstrated its Lenovo Racer-A reference design to SlashGear earlier at CES.

Here at CES 2012 during Showstoppers, we've been fortunate enough to get a personal interview with no less than Lenovo's own Stephen Miller speaking all about the 1st IA platform smartphone based on the Intel Medfield chip, the Lenovo Racer-A SmartPhone, aka the K800. This device is part of the Idea Smart Phone K series and has a 4.5-inch 720p multi-touch display with fabulous viewing angles. This device is capable of playing back 1080p, 30 frames per second video - it's also got a 720p wireless display, full 3D media center, and an 8M AF camera on the back. The processor is the real hero here as it is, believe it or not, a 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Medfield SoC.

There's something about device information leaks that gets everybody's engine going, and certainly there's no greater time to get a new tank of gas than right before the year's biggest event, CES 2012 - LG and Intel know this to be true, and are denying any an all claims that they are shaking hands for a Medfield device come Spring. What we're hearing from the Korean Times, on the other hand, is that they've got confirmation from "high ranking executives" from both LG and Intel saying that LG will produce the first market-ready Intel-toting smartphone with Android for a March release. More than likely we'll be seeing something along the lines of a smartphone or two running the Medfield SoC, LG or not, come early January.

Earlier this week we were treated to some basic numbers on what it means to own a device with the upcoming Intel 32nm Medfield chip on it, and today we've got our own source stepping forward with a few images and a hands-on account of the Intel reference tablet that'll be showing off the SoC in the near future to developers. What our source has here is a lovely tester tablet he's picked up from either a very foolish Intel worker or someone who found it and had no idea what it was worth because a mere $50 USD brought this tablet to our new buddy's hands. What you'll see here is a few slightly blurry photos (taken with a Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, mind you) of the tablet in all its glory along with a few words on its quality.

There's something about the brains of the machines we work with that makes us think really hard about how long it'll be before they take over the earth - today we get to peek at Intel's newest effort moving that plan forward with their 32nm process Medfield System on Chip, leaked here in both specifications and benchmarks. What you'll be seeing here is the next processor set made for the mobile market, here made for smartphones and tablets galore more than likely inside 2012. You'll find, thanks to VR-Zone, that this Medfield SoC takes the competition in NVIDIA's Tegra 2 and Qualcomm's Snapdragon MSM8260 and slams their faces into the wall - of course that's not all that happens in the fight.